I want to open the Scriptures
to the book of Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53. Our gracious God in His infinite
mercy and wisdom. He has been pleased to give us
this very precious book. God the Spirit moved upon about
40 different men. Most of them were not contemporaries
of one another. They wrote over a period of about
a thousand and five hundred years. He inspired them to write this
great book we call the Bible. It's really a library. It is a library consisting of
66 books. We have 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books
in the New Testament. In these 66 books, God sets before
us essentially two great truths. And I'll tell you folks, we've
got to learn them. We've just got to learn these. Number one, we've got a problem. We have a serious problem. It's
not God's fault. It's our fault. And this is the
problem. It's the problem of our alienation
from God. Our text says here in Isaiah
chapter 53 and verse 6, all we like sheep have gone astray. That's our problem. We left God. Just think about that a little
bit. We left God. Everything that God is. God is light. We left Him because
we prefer darkness. Isn't that awful? God is life. We left Him. because we prefer
death. God is the truth. We left Him. We went astray because we prefer
falsehoods. God is righteousness. We left Him because we don't
want to have anything to do with righteousness. We have a very, very serious
problem. And I'll tell you, such is the
nature of this problem, we don't even realize we've got the problem. We don't even realize the bad
shape that we're in. But God, in his word, he sets
forth this problem. Now, He had to speak. He had
to have this book written if we're to know anything about
Him. If we're going to know about the problem, God had to give
us His Word. And in His Word, the problem
is identified. And it is the duty of a faithful
minister to always set forth what is the problem. It's not our environment. God
put Adam and Eve in an absolutely perfect environment. It's not
all the things around us. Oh, if we didn't have so many
things around us, preacher, all these things that are sinful,
if we didn't have those things around us, we wouldn't be in
this kind of shape. There is no rottenness, there
is no sinfulness in things. The first man and the first woman
were in a situation where there were no bars. There was no gambling houses,
no casinos. I mean, you just know, none of
those things existed. And yet, you know what they did?
They went astray. They went astray. We've got a
real serious problem. It's not what we do, it's what
we are. I'm telling you the truth. It's what we are. The Lord said,
it's not what you're putting in your mouth that defiles you.
There was a Methodist preacher years ago, back in the 1800s. His last name was Jones. Oh,
He went all across the country preaching on the evils of drunkenness. And drunkenness is what the Scriptures
speak against. There is no question about that.
But this was His message. You need to quit drinking. You
need to quit drinking. Well, if everybody quit drinking,
the problem would still exist. The real problem. God in His Word. He tells us
what the problem is. It isn't being influenced by
the wrong people, though that can happen. I remember Brother Jack Shanks.
He told me the biggest mistake he ever made. He left the ministry
in New Caney and he went up into Tennessee He went to Memphis,
Tennessee to become a headmaster of a big Christian day school.
He said, he said, I lost my mind temporarily. He said, I went
up there and he said, all these little, forgive me now, snotty
nose kids, excuse me. But he said, they just drove
me nuts. And he said, this one little
boy, and he called him Johnny. He said, little Johnny, he got
in trouble over and over and over again. They'd bring him
to my office and he said, I'd paddle him. He said, I called his mother
in. And his mother came in and I
told her, I said, Johnny, he's just trouble. She said, oh no,
my little Johnny, he just fell in with the wrong crowd. He said,
darling, your little Johnny is the wrong crowd. He is the wrong
crowd. But we all are by name. We are
the wrong crowd. We are the problem. The problem
is not out here. The problem is in here. It is an awful problem called
sin. It is an iniquity problem. What
is this matter of sin? Transgressing God's law. That's a biblical definition,
isn't it? That's what sin is. It's the
violation of God's law. It's doing what God told you
not to do or not doing what God told you to do. And we have the
problem of iniquities. Iniquities. And when I read the
word iniquities, I think of the word inequities. We're not equal
to perfection. We don't measure up. Take that word sin, it means
missing the mark. Missing the mark. Did you see
where this... It was a girl from West Virginia.
She won a gold medal down there in Rio. She's a shooter. She
hit the mark. Well, what is the mark before
God? It's perfection. That's the mark. It's absolute sinlessness. And
guess what? We always miss the mark. We miss the mark. We don't even
hit the target. That's how far off we are. And
transgressions. This is our problem. And God
said, your sins, they've separated you from Me. God hadn't gone
anywhere. He's always been on His holy
throne. It's we left all we like sheep
have gone astray. We went astray in Adam. We wandered
off. And we're not interested in anybody
coming after us. We're not interested in going
back. We don't even realize we're lost. That's a bad situation
to be in. To be a lost sheep and not even
know it. To be lost and think you're alright. I'm okay, you're okay. We're
all okay. No, nobody's okay. We've all
got the problem. We've all got the problem. We're guilty due to Adam's fault. We went astray in Adam. He was
not a private individual. He was a representative man. He stood for us. He was our federal
head. And as he walked in perfection
before God, so did we. And when he failed in doing what
God told him to do, when he deliberately rebelled, so did we. And whether people like that
truth or not, it's still so. For as by one man, for as by
one man, sin entered into this world and death by sin. And so death passed on all men
because all sinned in Adam. We're guilty by representation,
guilty by association with Adam, guilty by imputation. His guilt
charged our count. We're guilty as a group, a whole
race of mankind, all we like sheep have gone astray. Everybody. We're all in the same mess. There's not one who's better
off than another or one who's more likely to believe the gospel
than another. We've all gone astray. We can't find our way back and
not interested in it anyway. We're like that lost sheep in
Luke chapter 15. Man had a hundred sheep. One of them was lost out there
on the mountains, as a hymn writer said, bleak and bare. Couldn't find his way back. What
did the shepherd do? He left them ninety and nine. And he left them in the wilderness. Don't miss that. Who do those ninety and nine
represent? The self-righteous Pharisees.
They were the ones who put up such a ruckus. They said, this
man, he's a friend of sinners. That's the reason our Lord said,
joy in heaven over one sinner that repented over the ninety
and nine who need no repentance in their own estimation. in their own self-righteous rags. The sheep went astray. That pictures
all of us, all of God's elect. I know here in Isaiah chapter
53, all we like sheep, that can certainly be applied to all the
human race. In fact, I had Joe read that
passage of Scripture to begin the service this evening. about
the sheep going astray. The Lord said to all of Israel,
like sheep gone astray. And a bunch of those sheep that
went astray, they died in the wilderness because they wouldn't
believe God. They're buried in unmarked graves. All the way to Kadesh Barnea. All the way to the promised land.
There was just a steady, steady stream of dead bodies buried
in the sand. And they didn't enter in. Why
not? They didn't believe God. They didn't believe God. But there are some special sheep.
There are some sheep that belong to the Lord Jesus by covenant
grace. Given to Him by the Father. And
they are His sheep. They are His sheep. But even
His sheep went astray in Adam, just like everybody did. We went astray as a group in
Adam's transgression. You know, back in the book of
Genesis, God made everything. The sixth
day it says God looked at all that He had made. It's very good.
Get into the second chapter. Of course, first chapter, God
made man in His own image. Get into the second chapter,
then God made him a wife. And we know from Romans chapter
5, Adam was a figure of Him who is true. He's a figure of Christ
Jesus. You see, just as Adam was a representative
man, so was our Lord Jesus. As Adam represented His race,
so our Lord Jesus represented His race, a chosen race out of
every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. But even these that
are chosen in grace, chosen in Christ Jesus, marked out to be
God's people, We went astray in Adam. We're as lost as anybody
else. Tell you what, don't ever be
down on God's electing grace. That's the best friend the sinner's
got, I reckon, next to the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, it's not
your enemy. Election's not your enemy. If
God hadn't chosen a people unto salvation before the foundation
of the world in the Lord Jesus Christ, wouldn't anybody be saved?
If He had left it up to us, wouldn't anybody be saved? He's got some
sheep. Like somebody said years ago,
we're on the trail of God's lost sheep. How will they ever be
found? Just preach the Gospel. The Gospel
will find them. The gospel will search them out.
The gospel is the very voice of the shepherd. And as the voice
of the shepherd goes out, the Lord Jesus said, my sheep, they
hear my voice in the time of love, in that time appointed. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them. I love them. And they'll follow me. They'll
follow me. We all went astray in Adam. But before Adam fell, everything
was okay. God gave him a wife. I said this Adam, he was a figure
of him who is true, him who is to come. How'd God give him a
bride? Well, God put him to sleep. Don't
you see in that a picture of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ? God put him in the sleep of death.
How is Christ going to have a church? How is He going to have a bride
to sing His praises? A bride washed in His blood and
robed in His righteousness. How is He going to have a bride?
God is going to have to put Him to death. Into the sleep of death. And He did. And how did God make Adam a bride? He cut open his side. He cut
him open. God cut him open. He took a rib. And from that
rib, He made him a wife. And I'll tell you, out from our
Lord's wounded side comes a redeemed church. A glorious church. And as a result of His obedience
unto death, He established everlasting righteousness. And this church
will have neither spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing. Because He
was wounded for us. He is wounded for our transgressions
and He is bruised for our iniquities. So there's Adam and Eve. Perfect
couple. No problem. No problem. But you get to Genesis chapter
3. Now we got a problem. We got the problem. God had already
said back in Genesis chapter 2 to Adam, all these trees here,
you name them all. Name the fruit trees, etc., name
the animals. But Adam, there's one tree in
the middle of the garden. That tree will remind you that
I'm the absolute authority and sovereign over all, and you answer
to me. Don't you eat of the fruit of
that tree. For in the day you eat thereof,
he didn't say if you eat, he said in the day you eat. Didn't
catch God off guard, did he? The fall didn't catch God by
surprise. You can say what you want to
and I know God's not the author of sin. But in some mysterious
way that confounds our poor puny brains, our God ordained all
of this. Because redemption is God's greatest
glory. This message of how God can be
just and justify the ungodly. It's a message that gives God
all the honor and all the exaltation. We'll adore Him forever and ever. So it's against the black backdrop
of the problem that God brings about the solution. And He gets
the glory. And His hands aren't stained
with sin. Adam did what he wanted to do.
The tempter did what he wanted to do. Eve did what she wanted
to do. And everything that happened
was because God wanted all this to happen. His sovereign will
and purpose. Don't ever forget that God has
never vacated His throne ever, not for a moment. And everything
that has ever happened Our God is always the first cause of
it. He has ordained everything that shall ever come to pass
to fulfill His will of redemption, His will of exalting His darling
everlasting Son and bringing everybody to bow to Him and adore
Him and saving a bride and making them just like His Son to the
glory of His grace. It's all of the Lord. Ah, the
problem came. But no sooner did the problem
arise, God announced the solution. God announced the solution? What's
the solution? The seed of the woman is coming.
Oh, his heel will be bruised. He's going to suffer and bleed
and die. But in the process of his death,
he's going to crush the head of the evil one. God has the
solution. You see, you never appreciate
what the solution is until you know what the problem is. Once
the problem is identified, and that's what we do in preaching,
and I know there are sometimes people get so offended and say,
Do you have to just keep on telling us we're sinners? Yeah, I do. I do. Because we've got to be
honest, we've got to identify the problem. It's only when this
problem is identified of separation from God, alienation from the
Holy One, That we're full of sin, full of transgressions,
full of iniquities. It's only as the problem is identified
that we will have any appreciation at all of the solution. We'll realize how great the solution
had to be. And how infinite must be the
mind of God to come up with such a solution. God announced a promise. He said, the seed of the woman
is coming. And all the Old Testament saints,
from then on, is looking for the seed of the woman to come.
He is going to take care of the problem. He is the problem solver. He is the solution. And then
God not only announced the promise, but He gave forth He gave forth
an illustration to show what's going to happen when his son
came. And God took two animals, and
I suspect they were lambs. I have no proof of that, of course. But I know this, they were animals
that were innocent of the transgression. They had no part in the rebellion.
They didn't walk away from God. They didn't abandon God. In fact, Romans chapter 8, whole
creation groans. You know why all of creation
groans? Because of the problem. Because
of the problem. And creation will continue to
groan. There will still be problems
with animals and weeds in your garden and disease and all of
the things like that until the problem is totally gone. But God said, I'm going to kill
these animals. I'm going to shed innocent blood.
I'm going to teach you a lesson. This is how the guilty go free. A suitable, innocent victim has
got to die instead. God said to Adam, in the day
you eat thereof, now you're going to die. That's what God said.
You're going to die. And Adam, he died. He died spiritually. Later, he
died after 900 and some odd years. He died physically, but for the
grace of God, he died eternally. But God said, I'm going to illustrate
the gospel for you. Here's the solution. By the death
of one man, the many, the many will be spared and be saved. And here in Isaiah 53, we have
all we like sheep have gone astray. We did so in Adam. We've turned
everyone to his own way. Brother Bill mentioned to me
in the office a little bit ago, he said, read the last verse
of Genesis. And that's when there was no
king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his
own eyes. And you know, that's the way
it always is. We'll do what's right in our eyes. will follow
the standards that we set. Well, I'll tell you what, God's
got a whole lot higher standard than you've got. Because His
standard is the righteousness of His Son. That's God's standard.
I don't know what your standard is. The standards of the world,
they're low. And the standards of modern religion
about how you get into heaven, low standards. But I tell you,
God's standards aren't low. God demands righteousness. God
demands perfection. And He's not going to accept
anything less than that. And my friend, if you can't be
righteous in yourself and you can't, you better be getting
interested in how you can be made the righteousness of God.
Because that's the standard. God's going to judge all men.
by that man who is crucified, the Lord of glory. And the standard
is His righteousness. We all went astray as a bunch
of sheep, and we've turned to our own way. Turn to our own
way. Doing that which is right in
our eyes. Going the way, but every man's
way is a way of death. It doesn't matter which way you
choose. Oh, it might be the Baptist way, the Presbyterian way, the
Episcopal way, the Muslim way, the Mormon way. All these ways. They're just ways of death. That's
all they are. Ways of death. Just a refuge of lies. That's
what Isaiah says. A refuge of lies. Well, I went
to this church yesterday. People will tell you tomorrow.
I went to this church yesterday. I went to that church. Just another
refuge of lies. That's all it is. There's just
one solution. It's to be found in the Christ
of Calvary. That's the solution. That's why
he says here, watch it, "...and the Lord hath laid on him." Not
man did something. Man didn't do anything. Man couldn't
come up with the solution. So the solution is not going
to come from man. The resolution to the problem will not originate
with man, because like I said, we don't even know we've got
a problem. We all went astray and we turned
to our own way. Well, maybe man will come back. Well, let's visit the garden
again and see Adam and Eve in their sinfulness. What do you think they did after
they sinned? And they heard the voice of the
Lord God calling in the cool of the day. And I don't know
about you, sometimes I have a vivid imagination. And I just wonder,
and I'll just disclose my private thoughts on this, but I just
wonder if maybe every day the Lord came to visit with Adam
and Eve. Maybe in the cool of the day. And he would speak to Adam, and
Adam would speak to the Lord. Lord, we worship you. Lord, we love you. Thank you,
Lord, for all that you've done for us, for me and Eve. The Lord met with them, there
was communion, there was fellowship. And I just, I kind of think that
way. Maybe every day, or maybe once
a week at a worship service or whatever, but the Lord would
meet with them. And so here comes the Lord to
meet with them as I suspect as it was usually done on a regular
basis. And Adam's not there. Adam's not running to the Lord.
He has gone astray. Well, where is He? Where did
Adam go? Where did Eve go? They were here
just a minute ago. And I don't mean for that to
be God's attitude because He is omniscient of all things.
But where did they go? Well, they ran into the woods.
Well, where are they? They are back there hiding behind
trees. They are trying to hide from
God. Oh my! This problem has also made them
idiots. Made them fools. They are absolutely
stupid now. Because God who made all of this,
and then put the man and the woman in the garden, knows every
tree in the garden. And He knows where Adam and Eve
are at. And they are trying to hide from God. They left God. Look, there's
a passage. I think we have time to look
at it. Look at Job 21. I got to looking at this this week. What I'm saying is the solution
is not to be found with men because we've run from God. We've gone
astray from God. We're not looking for God. Adam
wasn't out saying, Lord, where are You? Lord, I'm lost. Lord,
I need help. When he heard the voice of God
calling in the cool of the day, he didn't fall on his face and
say, Oh God, forgive me. I have sinned. I've rebelled
against You. He didn't do that. He ran. The solution is not to be found
with man. Look at Job 21. Look at verse
7. Job says, wherefore do the wicked
live? Become old, yea, or mighty in
power? Their seed is established in
their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon
them. Their bull gendereth, and faileth
not. Their cow calfeth, and casteth
not her calf. They send forth their little
ones like a flock. Their children dance. They take
the timbrel and the harp and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth.
They don't have any problems. This is much like Psalm 78, where
David talked about the same thing. They spend their days in wealth
and in a moment they go down to the grave. Therefore they
say unto God, Depart from us! We don't need you. We desire
not the knowledge of thy ways. Goodbye God! Depart from us God! And that's always the attitude of
a man. unless a change is wrought in his heart by God. Because if that attitude remains,
and you listen to me, those of you who don't believe the gospel,
you're not resting your soul's salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your attitude is, God, leave
me alone! God, depart from me! If that attitude remains, You
keep saying, I'll do my own thing, I'll do what's right in my own
eyes. Someday you'll stand before the Lord at the judgment. And the Lord will say to you,
you wouldn't have any of my counsel. And when I reproved you, you
didn't want to hear it. I sent my servant to you, he
told you the truth. He told you the problem. He told
you the solution. It's a solution of grace. It's
a solution of the substitution or death of our Lord Jesus Christ,
of my Son. But you weren't interested in
that. You went astray with the flock. You individually turn
your own way and your attitude all the way through life has
been, God depart from us, God depart from us. Well, now you'll
have your desire forever. Depart from me. I never knew
him. You better watch saying, God
depart from me. He may just hang you out to dry.
I'm done with you. The Lord said, Ephraim has turned
to idols. Leave them alone. I'm done with
them. The Pharisees said, Lord... The
disciples said to the Lord, Lord, the Pharisees are upset with
you. You've offended them with your preaching. He said, leave
them alone. Leave them alone. depart from them. Don't cast
your pearls before the swine. Hey, listen, if you don't want
to hear what I've got to say, I'll go tell it to somebody else.
And nobody's going to tie you down. Nobody's going to handcuff
you and force you to come in here and listen to the gospel.
But I'll tell you what, if that's your attitude, you'll spend all
eternity saying, I wish I'd have stayed. I wish I'd have listened. I wish I'd have had some interest.
That's the hard-headed See, it's hard-headed. It's all due to
the problem. Well, what's the solution? Well,
I've got to get to this quick. Go back to Isaiah. Go back to
Isaiah 53. What is the solution? Okay, the
solution, it can't come from me. Got that established. Here's
the second thing. The solution must come from the
Lord. The Lord hath laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord in it's purpose. It's of the Lord in it's purchase.
It's of the Lord in it's power. It's of the Lord in it's preservation. It's of the Lord in it's perfection. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord. You see this? Let me put it this way. We've
got all these religions out here. We know. Most of the religions, if you
were to describe or draw a picture of their religion, it'd be an
arrow pointing from earth to heaven. It's what man's doing. We'll get there. I'll get there,
preacher. All roads lead to heaven, you
know. But there's only one message
that has the arrow pointing from heaven down here. That's the
message of grace. You can judge all religions by
that. Which way is the error point?
That's simple. Which way does the error point?
It's like the veil in the temple. Was it rent from bottom to top? Error going up. Or was it rent
from top to bottom? Error going down. You know. You know. It's the Lord's doing. When Christ Jesus died on the
cross, He opened up the way to God. He opened up the way. It's a just and a righteous way. It's the only way. It's a narrow
way, but it's a way that leads all the way to glory. And the
arrow points from heaven down here. God did it. Not man. Man doesn't come up
with a solution. So here it is. The Lord hath
laid on him, so the solution is not a man, the solution is
of God. And I'll tell you something else,
thirdly, this solution is all centered in a special person. A special person. And as you
read down through Isaiah chapter 53, Isaiah, well, look at, for
instance, the second verse. He just keeps on using all these
pronouns. It says, for he shall grow up
before Him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground.
He hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see Him, there
is no beauty that we should desire Him. And Isaiah hasn't identified
it. He just keeps on saying he and
him. Verse 3, He is despised and rejected
a man, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid as it were
our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him, strict
and smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. This particular person, this
he, was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we're healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray, we've turned everyone to His own way, and
the Lord had laid on Him, this particular person, the iniquity
of us all. He was oppressed, He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter. And as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. He was taken from prison
and from judgment, and who shall declare His generation? For He
was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgression
of My people was He stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He had put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. And we ask Isaiah, but who is
the he? Who is the him? And he says, by his knowledge
shall My righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. And I'll tell you a wonderful
passage of scripture, and I preached from it last week. As with all
of my preaching, with all the messages, we don't do full justice
to a passage of scripture. But last Sunday night, I preached
on Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. He's reading this passage with
all these he's and all these him's and all these his's. And
he says, the eunuch says to Philip, who's he writing about? Who's
he talking about? Is he talking about himself or
some other man? And boy, I'll tell you, if there
was ever any doubt, Brother Philip, he sure clears it up. He began
at the same place, Isaiah 53, and preached unto him, Jesus!
That's who this is about. Jesus. Who is Jesus? He's the one who shall save His
people from their sins. That's who He is. So it's all
centered around this one person. But even that's not enough. in
telling the solution. Because our message isn't just
Jesus Christ. It's we preach Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And Him crucified. So that's
what he says, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us
all. That expression laid on Him. If you look over at the marginal
note It says, Hebrew made the iniquity of us all to meet on
Him. Like a massive weight. But even that's too mild a language. Because there is in this made
to meet on Him, the idea of that which is violent and that which
strikes out against somebody. Oh, all of our transgressions,
they were made to meet on the head of the scapegoat! And how
awful they were! Being charged with our guilt. This is the one, in Him is no
sin. No guile in His mouth. And here
comes this awful, awful weight. It's put to His account. He cries
out. He doesn't say, My Father, My
Father, why hast Thou forsaken Me? He says, My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me? We know why, Psalm 22, 3, because
God's holy. That's why. God's holy. You see,
He didn't spare His own Son, but He delivered Him up for us
all. All of our iniquities made to meet on Him. All of the iniquities
of all of His people of all of the ages made to meet on Him in a striking
way, fierce way. And what did He do? He bore them
away. He bore all our iniquities away. What's the solution to the problem?
Substitution. Satisfaction. Sacrifice. Sin offering. Got to have them. Got to have
them. No exceptions. It's the only
way that God remains who He is and yet receives us is through
this One who is equal with Himself in every way, but made Himself
of no reputation, took on Himself the form of a servant, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And God has
exalted Him. The solution is in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the solution to the problem.
And if we don't preach substitution, if we don't preach satisfaction,
oh, we can tell people they're sinners and that's absolutely
right. But are we going to present only
the problem and not the solution? I remember years ago, Nancy and
I used to attend. We listened to this man in Winston-Salem
for a while. Sure enough, he told us what
the problem was. But He didn't give us the solution.
And we'd go away from there miserable, wouldn't we? And I'd go out crying. I'm so awful, I'm so bad. Because He told us what the problem
is, but He didn't tell us the solution. You see, I want to
take the sword of the Spirit and in the hands of the Spirit
of God, I hope you're wounded and you'll cut. I hope it'll
cut you deep. And then we pour in the oil and
the wine of the gospel. And that makes everything alright.
That's soothing to the heart of a sinner who's been made to
realize, I've got an awful problem. I've got an awful problem. Then
you find out God in His infinite wisdom, He's got the solution. It's all taken care of. Isn't
that wonderful? It's all taken care of. And we
are made the righteousness of God in Him. Oh, I compel you
to come to this Savior. Go to Jesus. Go to Jesus as you
are. Go as the needy sinner you are. Go with the great problem you've
got. You're a sheep who went astray.
Furthermore, you've turned to your own way. Go to Jesus. Lord Jesus, I'm one of these
that went astray. But you are the solution. You
are the gospel. And I cast myself on your mercy. I trust no other one. I come
to you. I come to you now. I come needy
and I come empty handed, but I come to you. Do with me what
you will, but I'll bow here at your feet, asking you to show me mercy.
And I tell you what, you come with that attitude, He's already
showed you mercy. He already has. Well, let's sing
a closing song.